Homeward Bound
by thebestIcan
Summary: Kenshin reminesces about his relationship with Sano on his way home to Tokyo. Fluff and surprise to the end. Kenshin POV


Homeward Bound

The late summer wind was cooler than I'd anticipated, and I shivered slightly as I hastened my pace. Wrapping my gi tighter around myself, tucking my hands into my pockets, I lowered my face to the wind. My thoughts were carried back to him, the person I journeyed home to, the person I should have never left behind, even if it was to defend him. His messy brown locks, his chocolate gold eyes. I was warmed instantly just by remembering those eyes. The memory of our last goodbye before another hard battle came back to me in a rush, his arms wrapping around me with a promise that he'd wait for me. Subconsciously, as if the feeling would compare to his strong yet gentle embrace, I wrapped my arms around myself.

Three days' journey tugged at my tired eyes and I couldn't stifle back a large yawn any longer. My head hung lower and my crimson hair blocked off any sight of the path ahead of me. The sound of the rushing river by the path was almost like a lullaby, whispering. I didn't even notice my eyes were closed until I stumbled over a bump, throwing my hands out in front of me to catch my balance. Temporarily brought to a wide awake state, I shook my head. Maybe I could stop a little while…

The sound of his cheery laughter echoed in my ear. My mind was playing tricks on me, I could almost see him turn to me, smiling, holding out his hand for me to take. I could almost feel his soft hand in mine… My Sano.

No! I have to stay awake, I have to get home! It can't be that much farther!

Stepping off the path, I walked down to the shore of the river. I rolled my sleeves back, put my hair tight into a ponytail and dipped my hands into the rushing water. Scooping up handfuls, I let the water splash onto my face, dripping from my eyelashes and chin. The cold shocked me awake and I scooped up another handful, sipping it. Sweet, like rain, like his kisses. The rain always brought back tender memories of him…

_The rain had pounded the dojo for the past week and a half, the yard reduced to a slippery mess, the trees weighed down with water. The constant thud of raindrops on the roof was enough to drive anyone crazy. After his stubbornness, Yahiko had become sick after practicing out in the rain, despite Miss Kaoru's wishes. Now she was forced to look after the boy as his fever spiked and broke constantly._

_I had amused myself by meditating, reading, basically anything to keep my mind off the cabin fever that was slowly growing. But today I was restless, clasping and unclasping my hands over and over again. I picked up my sakobatou and held it, shaking my head and putting it back down again. I wanted to practice, but in rain like this, I would surely either catch my death of cold, or be sucked into a giant mud puddle. Neither attracted my fancy._

_I was pacing up and down the hall when I heard chuckling outside. Who would be crazy enough to go outside on a day like this? And joyfully? Walking towards the end off the hall, I slipped my tabi on and grabbed an umbrella._

_I pulled the door open, startled to see Sano facing away from me. His shirt was lying on the porch, the usual white now a dull gray with the water. His brown hair was almost flat against his neck from the rain, his red bandana no longer flapping in the wind, but stuck to his shoulders. His torso as he lifted his arms to the sky rippled and shimmered in the dull light. I found myself staring and cleared my throat, a red blush staining my cheeks. He must have heard me, because he now turned to face me._

"_Kenshin! I didn't know you had come outside!"_

_I was staring again, this time at his chest and abdomen. I bit my lip and blinked as I blushed again, looking down. He must have noticed my glance down his body, I can't figure any other way of how he would know that I paid him attention of that kind. Truth be told, I had thought of him as more than just a friend for a long time. Silently, shyly, though. I would never act upon my feelings. I was never good at showing my feelings, but it came in handy when hiding my fear of his rejection. _

"_Come on out, the rain feels so refreshing!"_

_I was snapped from these thoughts as he came towards me, a small grin playing on his lips. Lifting my eyes to his, I gasped when he grabbed my wrist, pulling me out into the rain with him, umbrella clattering to the ground. He guided me to the center of the yard, wet grass and mud making it hard to walk without slipping. We stopped there, the rain having soaked me in the few seconds from the cover of the porch to here in the open. My usually too bright red hair had become dull, like blood staining my back and around my pale face. My clothes stuck to my body and I felt like a wet dog. _

"_You look like you've seen a ghost!"_

_Sano's voice startled me and I looked back up at him, trying my best not to shiver. He wasn't shivering. He just stood there, looking just as much like a wet dog as I was. And yet, he still looked so handsome to me, I wanted to reach out and brush his hair out of his golden eyes. Instead I wrapped my arms around myself, no longer holding back the shivers. At the sound of my chattering teeth, he turned to me, his smile faded. _

_Instinct told me to step back as he reached his arms out towards me, wrapping them around me and pulling me to him. At having no escape, no planned action to this situation, my body stiffened, my breath catching in my chest. I peaked up at his face, his eyes closed and a small smile on his lips. Slowly, I raised my arms around his waist, letting my eyes flutter closed. I felt his grasp on me tighten protectively and possessively. I didn't mind in the slightest. His damp hair brushing against my cheek made me snap open my eyes and gaze questioningly at him._

"_Sano?"_

_He never answered me, he just kept leaning his face towards mine. I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my throat, I couldn't breathe. My shivers had returned, shaking my whole body, eyes tight shut. Suddenly, Sano stopped, his lips barely an inch from mine, his breath warm on my cheek. He wasn't going to back out, was he? He wasn't going to realize that it was me, Kenshin, another man he was about to kiss, and push me to the ground in disgust, was he? My mind screamed at me to move._

'_Just kiss him! You've come too far, things won't ever be the same if you don't finish it! Kiss him, you can't back out now!'_

_I'd been kissed by Miss Kaoru once before. It was an innocent peck on the lips, the kind that close friends might share. She knew from the kiss that there was nothing more to us, and she never pressed it any further, though silently hoped. This kiss was different._

_Taking a deep breath for courage, standing on tip toes, I quickly closed the distance between us, lips pressed against his. His response was warm and welcoming and all at once my body relaxed. Bells and whistles seemed to go off in my ears, tingling and warmth in my lips where his met mine, then soft tickles as his tongue slipped into my mouth. His arms pulled me closer, until there was not a single space between us. My heart was pounding so loud, I was sure he'd hear it. My hands were pressed between us, palms resting on his chest, his own wild heartbeat fluttering under my fingertips. My hands ventured up his back, pulling myself to his warmth, his hand snaking its way up to stroke my scarred cheek._

_It's a simple equation that air is needed to live, and no passionate kiss could change that. Breaking the kiss, Sano leaned his forehead to mine and closed his eyes. I couldn't believe it. I'd kissed Sagara Sanosuke! And he'd kissed back! Smiling, I intertwined my fingers with his, smiling up at him. I began to guide him back to the dojo, turning, when I stopped in my tracks. _

_There, standing on the porch, with two towels in her hands, stood Miss Kaoru. My heart plummeted. She'd seen us, I could tell by the sad expression on her face. Suddenly, she leaned her head to the side, face breaking into a smile. She set the towels down on the porch before walking back inside. Later I would confront her, only to have her wave me off, shooing me back into Sano's arms. For now, I turned back to Sano, tugging at his hand again. _

_Back inside, I reached up and wiped the sculpted muscles of Sano's torso and arms dry, while he wrung the water from my hair. Leaning in again, he caught my lips in another kiss, shorter this time, but nonetheless enjoyable. As he reached to begin his work again, I caught his hand, looking him in the eye. It was time to come clean, to tell him everything I kept inside._

"_Sano… I love you."_

_Leaning his forehead against mine again, he cupped my cheek, stroking it with his thumb. All at once my nerves calmed and I leaned into the gesture._

"_I know Kenshin, I love you too."_

I smiled to myself, picking up my sakobatou from beside me and continuing on my journey. Thinking back on our first kiss, I was more awake now. Deciding to stick with this tactic, I began ruffling through the memories of he and I, anything to keep me moving closer to him.

Our relationship had always been a loving one, hardly ever disagreeing and never betraying each other. I guess it was the fact that we'd been through too much together that we had a sort of unspoken respect and mutual understanding. Over the past year, we'd developed a comfortable routine. Wake up each morning, hug and kiss good morning, follow through with our chores. If it was a nice day, we'd journey down to the river by the dojo, if not, we'd wrap up in a blanket together and watch the rain. At night we'd kiss each other good night and hold each other until we fell asleep.

Then the calls for me to return to battle began. Our first fight was fueled by this, the night before I would leave the first time, while I was packing my things…

_"I thought you were done with all that! What if you're injured, or worse? What will happen then?"_

_I threw my rucksack on the floor, kneeling and opening it, throwing my things inside rather roughly as anger got the better of me. 'Can't you understand, Sano? I have to go,' my mind kept repeating to me. I knew I had to say this out loud, but my brain and my mouth weren't cooperating. Instead I just kept packing, silent, which made him angrier._

_He started to pace around our room, ruffling his hair and looking back at me every so often. I finished and tied the bag closed, standing and placing it by the door. I remember turning to him and sighing angrily. His pacing was starting to make me dizzy. He came towards me and put his hands on my shoulders, his grip too tight for comfort._

_"You can't go."_

_I shrugged his hands off and walked over to the small drawer next to the futon, opening it and pulling out the ticket to the ship that would carry me to the continent tomorrow. By this time, Sano had his arms around my shoulders, face tucked into my neck in a desperate fashion. _

_"Please, you can't go. Don't go."_

_I turned around in his arms and hugged him lightly, leaning my forehead against his. Couldn't he see that I was leaving for us? That I was fighting for us? I'd rather fight than have him live a controlled life. A life where we couldn't be together. My brain and mouth finally reached an agreement and I whispered to him._

_"I'm fighting for us."_

_Before I could brace myself, he slipped his hands down to my chest and roughly shoved me away from him, ticket flying into the air. Out of instinct I reached and grabbed in front of me, my hand clasping his bandana and pulling it down with me. Sano's brown hair fell into his flashing eyes as he watched me fall with a thud. My head smacked the floor and a flicker of stars clouded my vision for a moment. Blinking them away, I sat up and glared at him. I opened my mouth to speak but he cut me off._

_"That's the typical excuse! 'I'm fighting for us.' It's the same excuse as when all the others showed up at our door looking for you and I stood right by your side and fought. But some general from your past shows up and now you're going to leave me behind? It's too much to say 'I'm sorry, I can't, I have a life here now'? Well then, go! Besides, it seems we spend more time defending our relationship than actually having one!"_

_I couldn't believe him! Standing, bandana now firmly in my clenched fist, I tried to bite back my anger. How could he not understand!?! How could he be so selfish!?! I wanted to scream at him, I wanted to yell at him until he understood, but instead I would grit my teeth as I spoke._

_"What am I supposed to say? 'Sure, I'll come back and massacre hundreds of innocent people, I've gotta blow off some steam anyhow'? I-"_

_"You'd know a lot about that, Battousai!"_

_It would have been better if he hit me. It would have been a blessing if he'd thrown me to the ground, punched me, kicked me, choked me until I blacked out… Instead he threw my past in my face, the one person I thought would never care about that. I stumbled back, heart sinking, trying my best yet failing to not show how much it had hurt me. Did he really feel that way about what I had done? Sano came towards me, arms outstretched, a look of regret on his face. I was still in a state of shock at what he'd said to notice as he pulled me into his arms._

_"Kenshin, I'm sorry! I don't know why I said that, I didn't mean it, I'm sorry!"_

_Didn't mean it!?! The anger I'd felt at the beginning of the fight returned tenfold and I clenched my fists again, stiffening in his grasp. I could feel my teeth grinding and my body shaking in anger. I brought my fists up, knocking his arms off of me and stepping away, dodging his attempts to hold me again._

_"Get away from me!"_

_"Kenshin, wait! Please, I'm sorry! Please!"_

_"Fuck you!"_

_I grabbed the ticket from the floor, running out of the room, grabbing my rucksack as I left. Ignoring his calls, I ran, as fast as I could towards the harbor. Minutes seemed like hours as I ran without stopping, my lungs burning and my muscles beginning to cramp. I kept going, not wanting Sano to catch up with me. _

_When I finally got to the docks, I stopped, leaning my hands on my knees as I gulped for air. Something red and fluttering caught my eye. Sano's bandana was still clenched in my hand. I stared at it for a good five minutes, then with a flash of anger I shoved it into my rucksack. A moment later I was calm, almost sad, then I was terrified._

_'Is everything finished between the two of us? I can't come back to you, can I? You won't let me, will you?'_

_I pulled the bandana back out, rubbing my thumb along it. Biting back tears of regret and self loathing I did the only thing that seemed to make sense. I pulled the tie from my hair, replacing it with his bandana, the tails tickling my neck as the wind caught them. _

I had "slept" at the harbor that night, groggily stepping onto the ship after a restless night, glancing back in the direction of the dojo. Thinking back on it now, I wish I had just torn my ticket in half and ran back to him. No, I had listened to my stupid pride and my childish fear. I still remember sitting on the deck of the ship, fingering the tails of his bandana, hating him and at the same time wishing I could jump overboard and swim back to him.

This was my fourth time returning home, six long months of fighting and traveling, fighting and traveling… I must confide that since I stopped wandering Japan, I no longer had the taste for traveling. I only wanted to be with him. Only ever to return to brown hair and golden eyes.

And he always welcomed me. With a smile and a warm embrace, he welcomed me! He waited for me, just as he promised he would before I would leave. I never had to worry that he had forgotten me, that he'd turn away from me, that he'd found another and was happily wiped of my memory. Not since the first time I came home after running from him, not since standing there outside the dojo gate…

_It was unbelievably beautiful outside, almost as though described in a fairytale. But I didn't feel much like this was going to be a happy ending. The man I loved was inside these gates, though I doubted he loved me anymore. I stared at the door to the dojo, then began pacing back and forth, muttering and rubbing my forehead._

_"Why would you take me back? It's not exactly like I listened or was kind or… You need me. I know I need you. Ha, that's ridiculous, that's not going to change your mind…"_

_I must have paced like that for a good half hour, shaking my head and muttering. Occasionally I would reach up and finger the tails of the bandana, a habit I'd developed over the past three months. By the time I had worked out what I was going to say to him, my courage was lacking._

_"Kenshin!"_

_I was collided into and only a strong pair of arms kept me upright. I was pulled into a tight embrace, hair brushing against my cheek as I was held. At first I thought it might be Miss Kaoru or Yahiko. Then I recognized his smell, spices and sleep. I was about to wrap my arms around him when he pushed me to arms length, gripping my shoulders until I winced, shaking me slightly as he snarled his words._

_"You left! I can't believe you left me like that! I'll never forget that you left!"_

_Yes, I'd worked as an assassin at the young age of fifteen. Yes I'd seen thousands die. Yes, I was a grown man of twenty something, but I didn't care. I felt tears welling up in my eyes and despite my best efforts, they spilled out onto my cheeks. Sano's own tears began to stream down his face, yet he still held painfully tight onto my shoulders. I finally swallowed the growing lump in my throat and stuttered out the first stupid thing that popped into my mind._

_"I-I came back to you."_

_His grip loosened and hugged me, lifting me off my feet and holding me tight around my waist. I snaked my arms around his neck and cried silently as he held me, crying himself. I'd never seen him cry before. To see him cry was hard enough, but to know that I was the cause of it made me hate myself. I began to fear again that he'd change his mind and say he wanted nothing to do with me._

_"I missed you."_

_My eyes fluttered open at these words and my tears stopped at the feeling of his lips on my cheek. He missed me? He wasn't going to tell me to leave and never come back? I tightened my embrace on his shoulders and tucked my face into his neck. I was at a lose as of what to say, but he continued for me._

_"I thought you wouldn't come back. I thought you'd wander again and I'd lost you! I prayed every night that you'd come back."_

_All at once, everything I had wanted to say over the past three months since I'd stepped foot out the door came flooding back to me in a rush. My mind mixed all the sentences into one and I choked them out through tears._

_"I didn't think you'd want me to come back, I wanted to as soon as I left and I was so scared that you wouldn't let me, I'm sorry that I left and that I didn't have a better reason for It, but I promise that I'll always come back if you let me-"_

_"Shhh…"_

_Tilting my face to his, he pressed his lips to mine gently and I knew that there was forgiveness. Wiping each other's tears away, he set me back down on the ground. For a moment, his eyes widened, then he raised his hand towards my hair, fingers touching the red cloth of the bandana. Pulling it out of my hair, held it out to him, eyes down._

_"I accidentally took it when I left. I wore it because it was the best way to keep it safe… And because I wanted to remember you."_

_Sano took it from my hand, but rather than placing it around his head, he tied it back into my hair, then kissed my forehead. At my quizzical look, he cupped my cheek and smiled._

_"Keep it, you have better use for it than I do."_

_Taking my hand, he led me back towards the dojo, towards Miss Kaoru and Yahiko. I hesitated for a moment, my steps slow. Sensing why, he rubbed his thumb along the back of my hand, smiling._

_"Come on Kenshin, everyone's waiting for you. I waited for you. I'll always wait for you."_

I could see the dojo gates from here! All the tired energy left me and I ran as quickly as I could. Six months was too long, too long to be from him. I willed my body to go faster, I had to get there sooner.

"Sano! Sano!"

I called out to him, hoping he could hear me, hoping he'd know it was me. As if he'd known I'd be there, my love ran out of the dojo and towards me, smiling widely. I ran into his open arms, giving a soft cry as he lifted me and spun me once. I held him tight and kissed him, brushing his hair back. When we broke apart, he looked me in the eye, nuzzling my cheek slightly.

"Welcome home."

Taking my hand, he made to lead me inside. I resisted, however, and when he turned to me I took his other hand. His golden eyes made me smile, and now that we were alone was the best time to say what had to be said.

"I'm not leaving anymore. During the last battle I gave notice that I would only fight one more time, then refuse future assignments. You don't need to wait anymore."

"Why?"

"I have a life here now."

Sano tilted his head to the side. I tucked my hand into my pocket and my fingers wrapped around a small black box. Taking a steadying breath, I looked back at him, offering a smile before I continued.

"While I wandered Japan, I heard of a tradition common in the West. When the proposal of marriage occurs, a gift is presented as an offering. I thought it kind of silly when I first heard about it, but then…"

I trailed off, pulling out the box. I watched as his breath caught, and he looked me in the eye. I smiled again and moved closer, opening the box to reveal a golden band.

"Well, what else would I do with this? So will you, marry me?"

His beautiful eyes widened, glancing back up at me. I held my breath, mentally saying every prayer to every god I could think of. 'Please Sano, say yes, nod, something, anything! Just don't say no!' A moment in time felt like ten years, then with a quick nod and a smile, he scooped me up into his arms, kissing me. After another moment, we broke apart and I search his face.

"Of course I'll marry you, Kenshin!"

Imagine what I'd described of our first kiss, then multiply that by a thousand! I pulled him close, kissing him and tucking my arms tight around him. I couldn't believe it, he said yes, Sagara Sanosuke said yes! I daydreamed what he'd say when I picked out the ring in a store near the docks on my way home, but this joy far surpassed that!

After one last passionate kiss, Sano led me inside for one last final time after a trip away from home, the golden band shining on his left hand. I didn't have to miss him anymore, he didn't have to worry. I no longer needed to be homeward bound.


End file.
